distance from the house. None of the produce of these groves, not even the leaves or grass, may be removed or made use of, except in the service of the god, but at Andro I was told that Panam Ningthau objected to products of his grove being used even in his own service. No bird nor beast may be killed in one of these groves.[1] I was once requested to dismount, as the people said they did not know whether the Lai would like my pony to enter his grove; this struck me as curious, as the gods are polo-players, and a stick and ball arc kept in every lai-sang, and occasionally, when the Lai takes possession of a priestess at the lai-harauba, he makes the old lady play a mock game all by herself. In some cases the gods are represented by images or some material object. Panthoibi at Wāngu resides in an image of wood, which I am told has some resemblance to a human form, but has horns. This is kept in a separate little house hidden in the interior of the grove, whence it is brought on the occasion of a lai-harauba. As a rule there is no sacred image, but at a "Pleasing" a brass mask draped with cloth is used to visualize the god to his worshippers. Khumlangba, the god of the ironworkers, is represented by a piece of iron, said to have been brought to Manipur by their ancestors (Plate X.). Panam Ningthau, of the Loi village of Andro, is a special guardian of the Meithei Raja, who, on the occasion of his harauba, sends a mithan or a buffalo, which is sacrificed, being killed by a blow of an axe. The villagers, who have not yet become Hindus, eat the flesh, after offering parts to the god. Besides his regular grove in the village, this deity has two other sacred places; one is a cane brake, and, should a tiger enter this and roar, some dire misfortune awaits the Raja, who, on being informed, sends a pig and a cock. The former is sacrificed, and the latter is taken by one of the Aheibom family, (whose members are servants of the god), to the cane brake and released a short distance
- ↑ Cf. infra, p. 438.
